Stars that appear to be blinking

So everyone look at the skys at night. Have you ever seen a random star that moves slightlyand blinks.
My friend and I were looking at stars and at first we noticed these yellow lights that rose virtically one after another.
After that my friend saw this star, it was blinking blue red yellow. It couldn't have been a plane because it hovered and only moved a little bit. It also seemed to be playing with us. It looked like a saucer shape kinda behind the light, but that shape was very faint. At first it was kinda beside this one tree and then it moved to near the top of the tree and just stayed there for 15 min. It's pattern for hovering was kind of like doing a figure 8.
I for one no longer trust the night sky


[edit on 8-4-2005 by Equineartist7]

im pretty sure it wasn't a star. i dont know what it could be probebly a ufo.

The thing is this isn't a random occurance. I've seen these things before, but this is the first time I had a friend to back me up. Yeah it probly is UFOs but are they observing us by pretending to be stars???

Could be a number of things.

Stars are often different colors. Our own is yellow, but there are red and blue giants and supergiants as well. Planets, however, are much much more visible as different colors. Blinking is probably because of objects passing in the way of whatever you're viewing, but more likely from atmospheric effects. Pay close attention to the weather under which you're viewing celestial objects.

Anything that moves is anything. Stars move in the night sky, but you won't be noticing that. Planets do too, but you won't notice that either. You can notice meteors, or, if you're very lucky (I've only done it twice and I'm a star gazer) you can sometimes see satelleites.

Finally, don't forget that you are not a telescope. Your vision is imperfect, and at these numbers, any small discrepancies will become large differences when put to use. Looking up is bound to create blood flow issues, which can mess with your vision, even if you don't notice it. Also, your heartbeat. It seems like nothing, but it actually makes a difference. Sometimes when you lie still, you can see it move your entire body. It makes a large difference in some of the shooting matches during the olympics, and could have a lot to do with your viewing.

Stars twinkle due to air turbulance and movement of different layers of air at different temperatures. This can cause them to appear to blink in different colors.

could be...
but i still got a bad feeling about it. You made me think though.

Originally posted by Equineartist7
So everyone look at the skys at night. Have you ever seen a random star that moves slightlyand blinks.
My friend and I were looking at stars and at first we noticed these yellow lights that rose virtically one after another.
After that my friend saw this star, it was blinking blue red yellow. It couldn't have been a plane because it hovered and only moved a little bit. It also seemed to be playing with us. It looked like a saucer shape kinda behind the light, but that shape was very faint. At first it was kinda beside this one tree and then it moved to near the top of the tree and just stayed there for 15 min. It's pattern for hovering was kind of like doing a figure 8.
I for one no longer trust the night sky

Aren't satelites relativley close to earth? Have you ever seen the amount of satelites in space.... it totally boggled me..... dont be worried if aliens are watching you or not, be worried if your government (or someone elses) is.

But anyway, I'm pretty sure it was a satelite.

Yeah, recently they sort of seem that way to me. Like they seem to move or blink. I don't know, maybe it's just atmospheric phenomenon? Or I am just looking up more lately, trying to find something. I do however see one particular star which is bright white (I live in Virginia). Brighter than the rest. I could be just unfamiliar with the sky. It might allready be well known, I've just had my attention on it.

Troy

It's worth your time to spend some time looking up there. Grab a book from the library and just check out what you see. It won't take too long before you'll notice patterns, and begin to see where things will be at certain times.

I have some familiarity with constallations and such, but it would definitely would be nice to know more about it. So if something shows up that isn't supposed to be there, I could spot it easily.

I do want to do some UFO hunting when I can, so I can put my own sightings here. If I get some good footage, I will post it, and rest assured it wont be a doctored image or film. People who do this only slow us down on our mission to find proof of other life forms. I want to help in proving that life does exist elsewhere.

Troy

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Stars twinkle due to air turbulance and movement of different layers of air at different temperatures. This can cause them to appear to blink in different colors.

Yup, I asked my science teacher this question almost 30 years ago, and this is pretty much what he said. It's the light passing through our moving atmosphere.

Makes perfect sense to me.